While expressing hope that OIC will desist from issuing derogatory statements on J&K, the former diplomat pointed out that India has reached a full circle in 50 years of OIC existence and the Pakistani bluff has been called

In its 50th anniversary year and despite Pakistani opposition and boycott the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attending the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Abu Dhabi is a significant achievement and attests to India’s secular and economic credentials, says a former diplomat.

Sharing his views on India being the ‘Guest of Honour’ at the OIC’s 46th Council of Foreign ministers’ in Abu Dhabi, Anil Trigunayat, former Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta, said that, “The invitation is indeed symptomatic of the excellent relations and deepening ties between India and the member countries especially UAE and the GCC in particular.”

According to him, “it is not important whether we are members of OIC or not, external affairs minister Swaraj touched on all key concerns including terrorism and their perpetrators and emphasised on the import of peaceful religion of Islam while underlying the unity of all humans which should be seen with a clear prism.”

While expressing hope that OIC will desist from issuing derogatory statements on J&K, the former diplomat pointed out that India has reached a full circle in 50 years of OIC existence and the Pakistani bluff has been called.

In her address at the OIC meeting in Abu Dhabi on Friday, Swaraj without mentioning Pakistan said that the states must be confronted that provide shelter and terrorists in their countries.

Despite being a founder member of the OIC, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that he would not be attending the meeting over the invitation to the Indian minister. Swaraj was invited by the government of UAE as a “guest of honour” at the inaugural session of the two day of the foreign ministers’ conclave.

“If we want to save humanity, we must tell the states that provide shelter and funding to terrorists, to dismantle the infrastructure of the terrorist camps and stop providing funding shelter and funding to the terror organisation based in that country,” she said in her address.

“Terrorism is destroying lives, destabilising regions and putting the world at great peril. Terror reach is growing and the toll it is taking is increasing.”

The minister told the gathering of the OIC members that terrorism and extremism are given different names and labels but in every case there is distortion of religion.

“None of the 99 names of Allah means violence, Islam preaches peace. This menace [terrorism] cannot be stopped only through diplomatic and military means, we have to work within our communities,” she added.

Since the time of the invitation, things have been moving very fast in the region between the two neighbours. The meeting taking place in UAE comes in the backdrop of the Pakistan based and sponsored Jaish-e- Mohammed’s (JeM) terrorist attack killing 40 CRPF personnel at Pulwama.

This time round the GCC countries have welcomed India at the OIC meeting in a direct snub to Pakistan.